Major Projects and Development

Minter Ellison has one of Australia's leading major projects and property development practices, having played a role in the delivery of many of Australia's most iconic projects. Our substantial experience and industry participation places us at the forefront of the issues affecting the development industry.

Our team advises on the full spectrum of large development projects, including urban renewal projects, transit oriented development, master planned residential communities, mixed use developments, retirement villages and aged care developments, strata development, tourism and leisure developments, university and student accommodation and major infrastructure projects.

Our work includes site acquisition, due diligence, land resumption, project structuring, development applications and approvals, project financing, PPPs, infrastructure agreements, joint ventures, environmental compliance, titling and land tenures, land use integration and strata schemes.

Advised the Port of Melbourne Corporation on the procurement and transactional aspects of Melbourne's Port Capacity Project. The Port Capacity project will enable the port to meet increasing trade demand and protect the economic future of one of Australia's leading freight gateways.

Port Botany and Port Kembla Transaction

Advising the New South Wales Government (NSW Treasury) on the refinancing of Port Botany and Port Kembla in NSW. The project is unique, involving the contemporaneous refinancing and long term lease of two major Australian ports. Our role includes extensive legal analysis of the existing assets and businesses and the regulatory landscape; recommending a transaction structure; drafting special transaction legislation; asset restructuring; preparing extensive interrelated transaction documents; tender process and negotiations; and implementation under legal project management. The project is complex and very significant for NSW.

Parliament Square redevelopment, Tasmania

Advised Tasmania's Department of Treasury and Finance on a 3-stage divestment process to sell and redevelop Parliament Square, located adjacent to Parliament House and comprising a number of abandoned buildings. Our team prepared the RFT documentation, negotiated the development arrangements and advised on complicated interface issues with the adjoining Parliament House.

Westfield Group planning and development approvals

Advised Westfield Group on a wide range of planning matters in New South Wales (purchase and development of three major CBD retail sites in Sydney, including Centrepoint) and Queensland (development approvals for a new regional centre at Coomera and major expansion at North Lakes Centre, Chermside and Garden City regional shopping centres).

Walker Corporation Rhodes Peninsula

Acted for Walker Corporation in its redevelopment of waterfront land at Rhodes, NSW. The development is an estimated A$800 million project which involved a paint factory site being remediated and redeveloped to a mixed-use, high-rise, shopping centre, residential and commercial village.

More Recent Work

Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening Project

Advised Port of Melbourne Channel Deepening, one of the largest infrastructure projects conducted by the Victorian Government in recent times, seen as critical to the Port and Australia's position in global shipping. As key advisers to the Port of Melbourne Corporation, we advised on many aspects of the project, including the Supplementary Environmental Effects Statement and managed the public hearing process Federal Court litigation over the Federal Government's environmental approval for the dredging, cultural and Aboriginal heritage issues, relocation of essential infrastructure under the Yarra River, the resolution of the alliance dredging contract, and land tenure issues relating to land assets affected by the project.

Brisbane Airport parallel runway

The cornerstone of the Brisbane Airport Corporation's infrastructure program for Australia's third-busiest airport is a new Parallel Runway, expected to be completed by 2020. The new runway will be 3.3km long, 60m wide and will have over 12km of taxiways, navigational aids and other airfield infrastructure. This is a multidisciplinary engineering project that requires a variety of technical and construction skills to complete. As the new runway will be built on what is currently swamp land, dredging and ground treatment work is required before construction of the runway can begin.

Minter Ellison is currently supporting BAC with the development and implementation of a procurement strategy for Stage 1 of the proposed A$1.3 billion runway.

Acted for AMP in relation to the $317 million acquisition and redevelopment of a 50% interest in 190-200 George Street, Sydney.

$800m Discovery Point mixed use development

Acting for a wholly owned subsidiary of Australand Holdings Ltd on the A$800 million Discovery Point development at Wolli Creek in New South Wales. This 8-hectare mixed use development will feature residential apartments, commercial offices, an integrated retail centre and extensive public and private parklands. We are advising on procurement and OH&S strategies, drafting pro-forma and project specific documentation (such as consultancy agreements and design and construct contracts), assisting in the preparation of the tender conditions, advising on the tendering process and compiling documentation for tender.

Expansion of Kooragang and Carrington Coal Terminals

Acting for Port Waratah Coal Services Limited (a privately owned facility, the largest shareholder of which is Rio Tinto Coal Australia Limited) in the redevelopment and expansion of the Kooragang Coal Terminal and the Carrington Coal Terminal in the Port of Newcastle.

DEXUS acquisition of Kings Square, Perth

Acted for DEXUS Property Group in relation to the acquisition and development of 3 new mixed-use building at Kings Square in Perth. This acquisition and development, which has been described as the biggest commercial property pre-sale in Western Australia with an estimated cost on completion of $434.8 million, will comprise three A-grade office buildings to be developed by Leighton Properties.

DEXUS acquisition of 470A & 480 Queen Street, Brisbane

Acted for DEXUS Property Group in relation to the $500 million acquisition and development of 480 and 470A Queen Street, Brisbane. This acquisition and development, described as the largest property deal of 2013, will comprise a 31-level premium-grade office development project across 55,561 square metres located in Brisbane’s Golden Triangle and is targeting 6 Star Green Star and 5 star NABERS Energy ratings.